Deep wrinkles on the face: how can you fight them?

Deep wrinkles or furrows more or less obvious appearing on the skin, starting with the skin of the face, are a clear sign of time passing.

There is no specific age for the appearance of wrinkles. Much depends on genetic factors, skin type and bad habits that may lead to an early onset.

For example, excessive and unprotected exposure to sunlight, smoking, drug abuse and the use of overly aggressive products predispose and exacerbate skin ageing.

The first to appear, already around the age of 20-25, are expression lines that due to the numerous stress factors to which the underlying muscles are subject mainly affect the eye contour, the lip contour and the forehead.

From the age of 30 onwards and increasingly so as ageing continues, the situation gets worse.

For some people, seeing their face marked, less compact and losing tone is not a big issue.

While for others, whether women or men, it can become a real problem that, at times, may compromise the psychological well-being of the individual and make them insecure in their relationships with the world.

In this case, there are several remedies against deep wrinkles, differing in terms of application, effectiveness and duration.

In this article, we will review the main treatments against facial wrinkles, and in particular, we will discuss:

• What causes facial wrinkles
• How to reduce facial wrinkles

1. 1. Anti-wrinkle creams
   2. Cosmetic fillers
   3. Laser therapy
   4. Botulinum therapy
   5. Hyaluronic acid fillers

• How to improve facial wrinkles? Conclusions

What causes facial wrinkles

We have mentioned how ageing is to be considered the main cause of the appearance of facial wrinkles.

With the physiological ageing process, the skin loses its structure because its cells decrease their activity and undergo changes that cause loss of elasticity, hydration, firmness and volume.

Particularly with age, the body’s natural production of collagen, a key protein that supports the skin as well as bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments, decreases.

Another fundamental component for the health and youthfulness of connective tissues is hyaluronic acid, a molecule already naturally present in our bodies that is produced by fibroblasts, cells whose purpose is to moisturise tissues, giving them turgidity and plasticity, and which we progressively lose as we age.

It is the different quantity of these cells that makes the difference, as an extreme example, between the chubby cheeks of a baby and the wrinkled cheeks of an elderly person.

Thus, among the reasons for the appearance of wrinkles is the inevitable loss of hyaluronic acid in the tissues that ageing causes physiologically with the consequent sagging of the skin.

Not surprisingly, thanks to its effects on the face, hyaluronic acid is the basis of many anti-ageing cosmetics but is also used as a filler in aesthetic medicine for the treatment of facial wrinkles because of its ability to give the skin resistance, hydration, firmness and restore its natural shape.

How to reduce facial wrinkles

Given the big role played by appearance in today’s society, where, for both men and women, there is an ever-increasing need to maintain a youthful and fresh appearance for as long as possible, treatments for facial wrinkles are becoming more and more numerous and effective.

Regardless of what you consider to be the most suitable to meet your personal needs, there are certainly criteria that you absolutely must follow not to run into inconveniences that could completely ruin your face, if not actually harm your health:

• Refer only to authorised and qualified professionals (in the case of beauty treatments)
• Always check the quality and reliability of the product (even a simple anti-wrinkle cream could trigger allergic reactions)
• Give preference to solutions that guarantee lasting results
• Choose ‘Made in Italy’ products

Now let’s take a look at the main remedies for deep wrinkles, considering their pros and cons.

1. Anti-wrinkle creams

The use of an anti-wrinkle cream is undoubtedly the first step that, in general, most people follows when facing wrinkles, especially in the initial steps.

We have mentioned how the properties and characteristics of hyaluronic acid have led this molecule to become the basis for many products used in dermocosmetics for its fundamental function in supporting the skin and for its role as a biostimulator.

Hyaluronic acid facial creams can provide the skin with deep hydration and are suitable for all ages.

However, in this type of product, hyaluronic acid is used in what is technically known as a high molecular weight version. In simple terms, this means that it cannot penetrate completely, but its function is to retain water and better moisturise the dermis.

Providing the skin with an adequate level of moisture is certainly essential to fight wrinkles but may not be sufficient as a remedy for deep wrinkles.

Moreover, creams require continuous and constant use and the results are neither immediate nor too clear.

2. Cosmetic fillers

For those who are afraid of needles, of the side effects of hyaluronic acid fillers or more generally are against the use of cosmetic surgery even if it is non-invasive, cosmetic and nutraceutical alternatives such as cosmetic fillers are available.

These are products to be applied on the skin that even if they cannot offer immediately visible results like fillers, if used consistently, can give good results.

As mentioned above, when hyaluronic acid is applied directly to the skin, the disadvantage is that it is too large a molecule to cross the epidermal intercellular spaces and reach the underlying dermis.

Consequently, it only exerts a surface moisturising activity.

However, low-density hyaluronic acid fragments are small enough to penetrate the skin and reach the dermis, supporting and stimulating fibroblast activity.

Specific face serums with high concentrations of hyaluronic acid are particularly effective against wrinkles.

3. Laser therapy

Laser therapy can also be used as a treatment for facial wrinkles both superficially, smoothing smaller wrinkles, and deeply, targeting the mid and deep dermis to reduce more pronounced wrinkles.

The treatment must be carried out by a doctor and the discomfort (swelling, redness, itching and scabs) lasts between 4 and 7 days depending on the depth of treatment reached.

The number of sessions required varies from patient to patient and according to the desired result and should be performed every 3-6 months.

 Results are not immediately visible as they take several months.

4. Botulinum therapy

Along with hyaluronic acid, botulinum is the most widely used substance in aesthetic medicine treatments and in particular that of the face against age-related blemishes to restore lost volumes and rejuvenate the skin.

Also known as botulinum toxin (BTXA), it is a substance produced by the bacterium Clostridium Botulinum.

It is especially used to correct certain types of expression lines (but not for wrinkles caused by the effect of gravity, such as eyelid sagging):

• Vertical wrinkles forming between the eyebrows
• Lateral cantal wrinkles (so-called ‘crow’s feet’)
• Frontal wrinkles

The use of Botox presents risks and desired effects as well as sometimes creating a very unnatural plastic effect.

5. Hyaluronic acid fillers

As we stated earlier, hyaluronic acid is a substance naturally present in the body and, given its benefits, it is also produced industrially from bacterial cultures to be used as a filler to remedy skin blemishes, but also in medicine in eye surgery and orthopaedics.

Let’s take a look at the main effects on the skin:

• Very nourishing
• It prevents the appearance of wrinkles caused by external agents by eliminating the free radicals that cause them
• Promotes natural collagen production: in mature skin, in particular, it helps to fill the space between collagen and elastin fibres, maintaining the appearance of young skin despite advancing age
• Makes the skin firm and elastic
• Promotes skin regeneration

These characteristics explain its wide use in aesthetic medicine both as a remedy for more or less deep wrinkles and to correct other blemishes.

While the old fillers were only injected into the more superficial tissues, new studies on ageing have shown how such an approach, by injecting only superficial volume, resulted in that abnormal swelling on the face that is still often seen today and that immediately leads to identifying a person who underwent such treatments.

The most advanced practitioners in the field of aesthetic medicine, as well as the best companies producing hyaluronic acid-based injections, now promote a ‘softer’ approach to achieve visible, immediate and lasting results that are also, and above all, natural.

In short, the aim is to fight facial wrinkles to look naturally younger and to make the most of one’s biological age without excessive and unnatural effects.

This type of result, which aims to make individuals more beautiful but in a manner consistent with their age and without risks and side effects can only be achieved by turning to professionals who use the best hyaluronic acid properly.

Another important aspect to keep in consideration is that there are specific hyaluronic acid injections according to the type of skin to be treated: from softer ones, if the skin is still young and only needs more hydration, to more intense ones for correcting deep wrinkles.

How to improve facial wrinkles

We have seen that there are various remedies for deep wrinkles that differ both in the way they are applied and in the final effect they offer.

In general, to improve facial wrinkles, products based on hyaluronic acid prove to be safe as well as effective in contrasting deeper wrinkles since hyaluronic acid, as we have seen, is a substance already naturally present in the body.

Certainly, the use of hyaluronic acid injections offers immediate and long-lasting results and has the advantage of being gradually reabsorbed by the body, disappearing without a trace.

The advice is to always go to highly qualified professionals who use only the best fillers for performance and safety.